The Dark Knight Initiative
by Self Proclaimed KoC
Summary: As the Dark Knight returns to the world that has long condemned him, Fury and the Avengers also seek to recruit him. Set six months after the Avengers and during TDKR, mostly told through the Avenger's perspective.
1. Chapter 1

**The Dark Knight Initiative**

_A/N: Alright guys, to clear up some things, the fic is set six months after The Avengers and during the Dark Knight Rises. The story will be told mostly from the Avenger's perspective while the actual story of TDKR unfolds, with some tweaks of course so they flow into the story._

_Disclaimer: I don't own either of these movies or franchises, if I did, or rather if anyone did they wouldn't be putting it on the internet but rather make the crossover happen in reality right now. Lol_

**Ch1: The Return of Batman?**

New York City, one of the most well known cities in the whole country of America and even the world. It's structures and people are finally living in peace since the Chitauri invasion six months ago. Six months since the sky was torn open and aliens came out from some portal no one knew where it came from, six months since civilians panicked as the invaders armed with advanced technology and giant creatures that can fly through the sky and destroyed everything in its path. Six months... since six heroes stood up against the seemingly countless army and defended the city, not only the city and its inhabitants but all of mankind as well. No one knew how they came together but some of them they recognized.

The most well known was covered in red and gold armored suit, soaring through the skies and armed to the teeth with tech that could rival the alien's own. Everyone knew who he was underneath the layers of armor, he was Malibu's favorite son... Anthony Stark, genius billionaire playboy, but right now they all know him as the armored avenger, Iron Man.

The second one was more recognizable by the elderly, or those who lived through the second world war, and by those who knew enough of their American history. Dressed in what seemed like an old-fashioned red, white and blue suit but obviously made with modern equipment. The younger generation may not know who he was... yet. But everyone recognizes his shield, with the same colors as that of his uniform and a single white star in the middle, able to deflect and is impervious to any type of damage, he is the first avenger, Captain America.

The next one seems like a monster, wearing nothing but torn black shorts, with green skin and hair, muscles that make any kind of bodybuilder look like a dwarf in comparison. He tore at the armies of aliens as if he were just taking a stroll in the park, but the ferocity which he destroyed them bellies that metaphor. Though underneath that bestial body and mind lies a brilliant scientist, Dr. Bruce Banner, a meek individual who is the top scientist who specializes in gamma radiation, few are privy to this detail, but those who do know to stay on his good side, and there are others who seek to harness what he has in his blood. Some may recall his other form as that monster who broke half of Manhattan a couple years ago, and the military surely identifies him as one of their accidental experiments that they keep a secret. He may be considered a monster by many, but he is also the strongest there is, The Hulk.

Following him is a man wearing black and silver armor reminiscent of warriors of old, a long flowing red cape that indicated he's no normal warrior but must have been of higher rank, perhaps even royalty. His golden locks and rough yet handsome face probably proves that, and to his closest friends and his current teammates, he's now recognized to the world as the god of thunder, Thor Odinson.

The remaining two are still not that well famous in the eyes of the general public, perhaps because they don't stand out as well as the other four, but they helped either way with the protection of the world. One of the two being a remarkable marksman, able to see and hit anything at any given distance, his choice of weapon being only his trusty bow and trick arrows. The other, not only being the only female of the group, with beauty that would make every man turn, wavy red hair that resembles a wilder side, or that of the amount of blood in her ledger, a combat specialist and master spy. They may not have superpowers, enhancements, genius intellects or even born as gods, but Hawkeye and Black Widow have become an indispensable part of the team. And the six of these misfits have become the defenders of Earth... The Avengers.

_Present Day..._

As the city of the big apple continues on with its daily routine, everything having been rebuilt thanks to donations from some of the government, including some of the wealthiest companies in America such as Lex Corp, Oscorp, Wayne Enterprise, and especially Stark Industries, no one has noticed a huge object hovering ten thousand feet above them, but considering the giant helicarrier has activated its cloaking device it's not hard to guess why.

In the main room of the Helicarrier, all the personnel staff are busy performing their duties, whether gathering reports from terrorist activities to infiltration to even the local news they are keeping eyes on everything they can get their hands on. And the man overlooking all of these is merely standing by the glass window, dark skinned and wearing all black combat suit and a long black leather coat, but his most distinguishing feature is an eyepatch over his left eye and some visible scars underneath indicating he must have lost it. This man is the Director of SHIELD, Nick Fury as he stood by the glass windows looking outside of the newly rebuilt SHIELD Helicarrier. After the New York incident they pretty much had everything handled after that, nothing major happened since the team made their debut. Everyone feared this team of heroes that was able to stop an alien invasion. Yet despite that, he couldn't help but feel anxious, but that's part of the job, you never know when something might happen or who will make the next move.

As he simply stood seemingly lost in thought he suddenly remembered something from eight to nine years ago. SHIELD had just started out and he was elected as the director by the World Security Council, the same council that elected and dared to launch a nuclear bomb to New York. Why he even kept serving them he didn't really know. It was when he started out as the Director of SHIELD and was looking over some files of any odd news that may be occurring around the world, when he stumbled on a file that read "**Giant Bat seen flying over Gotham City"**, something like that would have him consider them author either too high or too drunk to consider seriously, and he did just that, skipping over the file and paying no more mind to the ridiculous article he just read. There were more important things in the world than an urban myth. A few months later he found out that same urban myth might not be as absurd as he thought it might have been, news have been popping up about this so-called "Batman" appearing to take down big time criminal names in their most tightly secured base of operations, including taking down dozens of henchman and then disappearing without a trace.

Several other reports indicate him somehow being in two places at one time, some thugs have even suffered post-traumatic disorders that they came clean and never had committed a crime after their encounter with the Bat, the streets were slowly becoming safer from organized crime since. Nick had to admit, this kind of achievement for one man to do, he was an ideal agent for someone like SHIELD. Fury spent the next few months tracking down whatever he could on the vigilante, but all he got were just sightings, blurred videos of one man taking down dozens of mooks, and pictures of a shadow disappearing in the darkness. Not even an exact measure of his height, build or possible weight, everything he heard from witnesses were nothing but exaggerations. 'As tall as a shadow extending on the ground, built like a monster of the night, bullets seem to pass through him, a voice that sends shivers down your spine,' it was nice and all but it didn't help him one bit on tracking him down. Whoever the Batman is, he was good, not even a single trace of his whereabouts. Until a year later when Gotham came under attack by a criminal known only as the Joker.

This psychopath managed to singlehandedly do what the mob and police couldn't, he made the Bat seem human, openly killing innocents and causing the whole city of Gotham come into panic while making threats to the vigilante that it wouldn't stop until he takes off his mask and turn himself in. SHIELD could've come to its aid, but they were stuck in the sidelines, mainly because the Council stated it was a local problem that didn't need to involve global security, that and if an organization like SHIELD were to interfere it would cause further panic and make people ask questions on how secure is a country superpower like America. Needless to say Fury was beyond pissed at that statement, but he had his orders to follow. Then all of a sudden, the Joker was apprehended, and then the Batman disappeared again, but this time for good.

Fury didn't exactly know why he did, but he had to guess it had to do with the death of the DA Harvey Dent, all news pointed to the Batman having killed Dent and five other people, two of them cops, but there were no facts or evidence to support this, only hearsay from a Commissioner James Gordon, but the facts never added up, during the year and months Batman operated not one criminal has been killed, so why start now? And in one night after all that time? It was obviously all a cover up. But it was too late now, despite using every resource to find him, Fury never had such luck, their tech back then was insufficient enough to be able to follow the Bat, whose tech could rival Stark's. Giving up the search after a couple months Fury just resigned from recruiting the "Dark Knight" as they now call him, probably because of jealousy for killing Dent, dubbed Gotham's "White Knight".

'Oh well, at least he managed to make Gotham a safer place, so far there's no more crime, at least no organized crime as far as I heard,' Fury left himself in his own thoughts.

"Sir!" One of the monitor staff called out to him, "I think you may want to look at this!"

He pulled it up on the monitor to show everyone, and what showed on GCN didn't seem real, the article read **"The Return of The Batman?" **underneath along with a video of the Dark Knight riding the same high tech bike he was seen in all those years ago when he chased down the Joker.

'I can't believe it, he's back,' Fury's only eye widened a bit as he kept on watching.

Batman kept driving his bike towards downtown, with what looks like all the GCPD hot on his tail and some more coming onto him from the front. Taking a sharp turn down a dark corner it seemed he trapped himself into a dead-end. The Deputy Commissioner was seen holding out a megaphone and was about to call out Batman and to read his rights, when suddenly white light shone brightly on the police officers, temporarily blinding them. While the Batman, on a new vehicle that moved like a silent aircraft, hovered over them before flying away and once again disappearing into the night sky.

The news feed then cut off as the looks of everyone in the helicarrier simply stayed where they were in awed silence.

"Well what are you all still staring at the screen for?! Monitor all video feed and see if we can finally track him down!" Fury ordered immediately towards his staff, who moved as fast as they could, trying to catch if the Bat left any trail for them to follow.

Soon after, a woman with straight black hair tied into a bun, beautiful yet strong facial features and ice cold blue eyes that showed authority over nearly everyone except Fury himself walked up next to the Director and asked, "Sir, why are we chasing after the Batman? Compared to the current members of the team, he wouldn't stand a chance against more than half of them one-on-one."

"Been reading my old reports again Agent Hill?" Fury asked the agent known as Maria Hill, his second-in-command.

"It helps kill time sir, and you didn't answer my question, the Batman may have been a valuable asset back then, but our technology can match his now, not to mention Stark's tech is currently number one in the world, Captain Rogers can beat him in hand-to-hand combat with a battle of attrition, Agent Romanov matches him in stealth and Agent Barton can easily take him down from afar, and there's also Thor and Banner-"

"You make good points, Agent Hill," Fury interrupted her, "But I believe the Batman has some things that will make him an asset for the Avengers," he replied back, "And he has some qualities that could also equal if not surpass the team."

"Which is?" Maria tilted her head.

"... I think you should give Agent Romanov and Barton a call, see if they can help us find him..." Was all Fury said to her, with the subtle hint of '_You're dismissed'_ read between the lines.

Agent Hill simply gave a short inaudible sigh and proceeded to follow her orders. As she left Fury repeated what she said in his head, 'What she said may be true, but the Batman does have some qualities that personify what we do, and he executes them perfectly, I may have lost the chance years ago, but this time, this time we can't miss this opportunity,' he thought, 'I wonder if the others have seen the news as well.'

Little did Fury know that despite the Avengers scattered across the country, with Thor being off world, each of them has seen the news of the Batman's return, and as they have done before, they have different opinions from one extreme to the other...

_**To be continued...**_


	2. Chapter 2

**The Dark Knight Initiative**

_A/N: Just so everyone knows, I re-posted the first chapter to fix some minor mistakes a couple people pointed out._

_I know it's been a long time, almost six months to be exact but I hope everyone understands, we all have things we have to attend to before other things. That doesn't mean I'm not having fun writing this, and thanks for the criticism and input. I always try to make my fics as best as possible, keep up the critiques._

_Disclaimer: I don't own either of these movies or franchises, if I did, or rather if anyone did they wouldn't be putting it on the internet but rather make the crossover happen in reality right now. Lol_

**Ch2: Assessment **

Just as Fury expected, each of the Avengers have heard about the Dark Knight's reappearance.

"Hmph, so the guy returns after eight years and he gets as much press as when we saved the world?" Tony Stark, crossing his arms as he snarked at the TV screen, "That sounds a bit unfair."

"Well I'm sorry for the blow to your ego Tony, but it isn't that bad, at least he'll take the media off our backs," Banner, sitting at his desk, remarked back. Tony and Banner are currently in Stark Towers, located in the heart of New York City, ever since the invasion Bruce took up Tony's offer and started working for him, running it as the new head of R&D department alongside Tony. They were working on some new ideas for security for the newly rebuilt skyscraper when the news came on and the first thing they showed was the very topic the two are currently discussing.

"What are you stressed over the media for? They don't even know your real identity, just the 'Other Guy'," Tony answered back.

"I'm just trying to be modest," Banner raises his hands in defense, "...Do you think the others saw the same thing?"

"Probably, I dunno if Thor has any cable though, much less if Cap knows how to use a TV in this era."

"Tony," Banner tried to reprimand him before he got too far with the jokes.

"Hmm.. " Tony ignored him as he rubbed his goatee, "How much you wanna bet Fury wants this guy in on the team?" The billionaire genius asked.

"Fury? Why do you say that?"

"Well for one the "Batman"," Tony quotes and unquote's with his fingers, "which is a silly and unoriginal name by the way, was supposedly gonna be recruited by Fury before any of us eight years ago, but he couldn't even collect any trace of the Bat, and after having disappeared for eight years and comes back, I doubt Mr. One-eyed Monster would let the chance slip by."

"Interesting," Banner simply nodded trying not to show any surprise on his face on how Tony knows all this, "And where did you get this information?"

"I hacked into SHIELD's private files."

"Again?! Why?"

"Just for fun," Tony grinned, "And to see if I can do it again. Did you know they have tons of reports of nearly every high-profile beings and organizations in the world? Take this for example, there's a school located in the northeast corner of Westchester County that houses and schools mutants? And there's sighting's of someone new in New York swinging around like a spider, not to mention the Baxter Building, what scientist doesn't know Dr. Reed Richards and his fantastic family, need I go on?"

"Who's stopping you? We all know how you like the sound of your voice."

"Haha, cute. Well the most interesting thing about all this is unlike us, you, me, and the rest of the team, all they have on the Batman is just fifteen pages, fifteen measly pages of reports. Is SHIELD just sad for a secret security organization or what?"

"Or he's just that good. How many pages do I have?" Bruce was curious to know what SHIELD has on him.

"Not that much, about one-fifty, Barton and Romanov has about the same, Cap has two-fifty, Thor nearly has a hundred, as for yours truly, I have nearly five hundred pages on their reports," Tony announced proudly.

"I don't think that's something to be proud of. But then again you do like the attention."

Tony laughed briefly then began walking out of the room. "Where are you going?" Bruce asked. "Where else? We're gonna pay a visit to Fury, see what's up with the recruitment," Tony replied.

"We? I don't think I wanna go, I don't do too well with too many people, especially if they're armed and ready to shoot me if I so much as turn the wrong way."

"Aww come on, it'll be fun, I'm sure everyone'll be there, and if anyone has itchy trigger fingers you can always do your thing and turn green with envy, or anger in your case," Tony said as he began walking towards his private jet with Bruce reluctantly following as they visit the SHIELD helicarrier uninvited.

_Somewhere in Florida_

"Umm, maam, could you increase the volume please?" The man known as Steve Rogers requested of the waitress. He was currently in a local diner somewhere in Tampa Bay Florida, enjoying the sights while he explores what else has changed since his time frozen in ice. He had the chance to explore New York and its development, now that he had an indefinite vacation until his next mission he might as well see what he can of the current America. And as he entered this little diner he sat and ordered a burger and an apple pie; quietly eating when he heard the TV announce on a national news station about the return of a supposed Bat-man?

"Sure thing hon," The waitress replied as she turned up the volume with the remote, "Let me know if there's anything else you like," she gave Steve a wink.

Steve flustered a bit before looking back at the screen, to be frank, he didn't quite know what was going on. Even after being frozen and woken up seventy years apart, partnering up with a Norse God and insanely super powered Hulk, AND fighting off an alien invasion; there are still things in life that surprise him, such as why is the guy dressed up as a bat? And whoever he was, it seemed he's wanted by the officers of Gotham, curious to know why, he asked one of the other customers, "Excuse me, I'm not from around here, could you tell me why the police were chasing him?" As he asked this he earned some glares and stares from the patrons.

"What?!"

"Did you live in a cave or something?"

"Where have you been living?"

Those plus a few other insults he will not elaborate were thrown at him as he looked on in confusion, which is until the waitress came over and shushed everyone, "Hey! Alright guys, leave the guy alone!"

Steve had to be thankful for the help; the waitress was a really nice lady, she had blonde hair tied in a ponytail, a trace of wrinkles starting to form under her eyes and looked to be in her early forties, but he had to admit she still looked good for her age, though he'd never tell her that otherwise he'll never hear the end of it from her.

"So hon," she spoke to him, "You've really never heard about the Batman?"

Sheepishly nodding his head, Steve admitted he knew almost nothing about current events, being frozen for seventy years and losing everything you knew can do that to anybody.

"Well I'll tell you what I know."

"Thank you very much maam."

The waitress giggled at his response, "Oh you, they don't make men like you anymore, people'd think you were born in the wrong era."

'Well at least she's half right,' Steve mused.

"From what I heard hon, the Batman has been wanted for murder for the past eight years."

"Murder?" That caught his interest, "Of who?"

"The former DA of Gotham City, they say the DA was cleaning up crime in Gotham when he was murdered by the Batman, who has gone and disappeared soon after. And let me tell you, Gotham is one of the most corrupt cities ever to live in."

Steve stayed silent as he listened, 'Hmm, so he's wanted by the police for taking the life of a man who was trying to make his city a safer place, so why does it feel like something isn't right.' From what he's seen of the recent news, Batman had some high-tech equipment that could give Tony some competition, but despite during the entire chase with the police, not once has Batman retaliated, even though the authorities have all their firepower set solely on him.

His thoughts were interrupted by the waitress when she added, "I mean, who gave Batman the right to be judge, jury and executioner? He spared that psychopathic clown but took a good man's life away. A lot of people are saying the Batman belongs in the same nuthouse or prison he locks those criminals away."

"He actually had them locked away? Did anybody die?"

"Hmm, not really, but I guess after spending over a year trying to stop crime just to have them get back out must've made him snap, you know? I know _I _can't keep my sanity doing what he did."

She kept talking but at this point Steve didn't pay her much mind, his curiosity has been piqued by the Batman, 'He locks up criminals and has never taken a life, yet kills a man trying to make the city a safer place, is it jealousy? Or perhaps Batman has an obsession with what he does, no that can't be, otherwise he wouldn't have disappeared for eight years.' He had his hunch, but perhaps he should pay a visit to Gotham City, if he left now it'll take him ten hours to get there.

"Hmm? Hey, now that I got a good look on your face, haven't I seen you somewhere before?" The waitress wondered, staring at him intently.

"Ummm, maybe I look like somebody you saw before…" Steve quickly answered, not liking the idea of being hunted by the media like Tony has, and at least _he_ liked the attention.

Not wanting to bring further attention to himself, Steve quickly paid for the meal and left. Riding his Harley Davidson up north to Gotham City as fast as he could, he also had a hunch that the others saw the same news he did, and since they're from this era, Thor aside, they probably know about the Batman more than he does, and he intends to find out the truth about him.

_Asgard…_

"Heimdall, what news have you of Midgard?" Thor asked of his old friend Heimdall, guardian of the rainbow bridge, Bifrost. Heimdall is one of the strongest Asgardians ever known behind Odin and Thor, but he was chosen as the guardian of the Bifrost for his super sharp perception and hearing, letting him see and hear across all nine worlds. "How has been the rebuilding of New York since the Chitauri's invasion?" curious to know to what's been occurring these past six months, even though time was relative in Asgard and months just passed by like days, he still missed being in Midgard.

"All has been going well, Thor Odinson," Heimdall replied, "…But I fear a storm is coming."

"Explain," Thor immediately responded with concern, it seemed even though they saved the earth from doom there never appears to be peace in Midgard, he was aware of that but if Heimdall himself was a bit worried about an oncoming event it's not something anyone should take lightly.

"I see… a mortal, one with a strategic cunning mind that matches Loki's, along with a savage ferocity that makes him more monster than human, and he plans to commit mass genocide."

"Where?" Thor demanded.

"Gotham City, I have seen the events that occurred in this city years before, there has never been a modern civilization that has some of the worst dereliction and lawlessness that I've witnessed than what occurs here. A kingdom where the wealthy and powerful watch as the people beneath them eat at each other in order to stay alive."

"Are the law enforcements not doing anything about it?" Thor asked, starting to get angry at how such injustice could have stood by.

"No, even the keepers of peace have been bought by the rich and immoral to do absolutely nothing, some have even become depraved to help these malefactors for quick wealth."

"I shall go down to this Gotham City and show them that there is nothing to fear from these criminals," Thor roared, but as he was about to turn back to his father's palace Heimdall stops him.

"As I said Thor Odinson, these events have occurred years ago, now it's a time of peace."

"Peace? How did they acquire it if it is as corrupt as you say?" Thor inquired.

"Gotham city has… a knight if you will, a Dark Knight, that has fought for it in the shadows for years, away from ignorant eyes."

"You mean one man was able to do this alone?"

"This Crusader," Heimdall ignored the question continues on, "despite being only a mortal, has fought so hard to keep and maintain peace for his beloved city, but due to an unforeseen chaos, he has fallen from grace and has been banished from returning to the city he gave everything for."

"That's a somber story my friend, but what does this have to do with the madman you speak of?"

"Yet despite all that, the aged Knight has returned to a world that despises him yet he still tries to help anyway he can. And now, this evil rises, attempting to not only break the Knight, he also plans to make twelve million lives suffer despair before completely annihilating them, and he'll make the entire world watch as they are powerless to stop it."

"…I have heard enough Heimdall, I shall request of my father to send me back to Earth, the Avengers and I shall handle this," As Thor leaves Heimdall tells him one last warning.

"Be cautious Odinson, this foe fights with his mind as much as his body, an opponent like that is never to be underestimated. Also, he is not the only one to be wary of, a seductress is trying to tempt the fall knight to drop his guard before she betrays him, I pray you and your friends manage it in time before you lose a potential ally."

With those final words of warning, Thor hastily rides his horse back to Asgard, to ask of his father's permission to use the Tessaract to be able to travel to Midgard, whoever the madman is trying to destroy millions of lives has to be stopped. And from hearing how Heimdall seems to hold this Dark Knight in such regard for a Midgardian, he was curious to meet him too, he sounds quite like Captain America if he says so himself.

_Onboard a SHIELD carrier_

"…So what do you think Nat?" Clint asked his long-time partner, "Aren't you the least bit excited about this?"

Natasha Romanov looked at her partner and rolled her eyes, they were currently on a SHIELD personnel carrier taking an express ride all the way back to the SHIELD helicarrier, "Very," was her deadpan reply.

Really, since the invasion they decided to take a well deserved vacation, both she and Clint have traveled around but never truly had the chance to admire the scenery. So as soon as the invasion of New York has been handled and everything squared off they packed up and went to who knows where, going where their whims tell them to go.

They'd go mountain climbing, go to fancy places, marathon running, skiing even something as simple as eating at a hotdog stand. They did all of that without having to watch their backs, or following a target, it was like her life was finally becoming normal.

…And it lasted for six months, longer than any normal vacation should have taken but Natasha was starting to enjoy that kind of life. It made her believe that her ledger was starting to be washed of all the red. Until one day while her and Clint were living it a little on Malibu Lagoon State Beach, on an isolated spot a bit aways from the general public, Clint surfing on the ocean waves while she herself was busy sunbathing when they heard the rumbling of an aircraft coming in closer, but not any regular aircraft, the sound it emitted indicated it wasn't a civilian model, but rather a military one. And lo and behold she sees a SHIELD personnel carrier landing right next to her, she didn't like that her vacation already ended, but what didn't like worse was the sand blowing into her hair, she'll have to deal with the pilot for not being considerate of where he lands.

"So you gonna tell me what's with the silent treatment?" Clint asked aloud.

"Huh? What're you talking about?" Nat answered back, being knocked out of her reverie of missing vacation.

"Heh, do you miss vacation that much already?" Was Clint's smart reply, "I meant about us tracking down the Batman. Heard he was really good, wouldn't mind getting some tips from him, maybe I can give him a few advice of my own."

Despite the fact he knows her so well and she owes Clint for helping her rid of her ledger, she just wants to slap his mouth for being a smartass, and the Batman? She wasn't a believer at first; she always thought he was a myth, some urban legend that started around Gotham to scare the criminal minds. Heck, maybe even the police started it to make it easier to catch the criminals. That is, until she was handed files that SHIELD has of the Batman, including photos and videos of his sightings, they weren't much, but she had to admit his accomplishments are promising for a SHIELD agent, he even exceeds beyond the best agents SHIELD offers, except of course her and Clint, they have skill-sets even Batman doesn't have. Is that why they were called? Is Fury thinking of recruiting the Batman to the Avenger's?

"Okay so I do miss the time-off from SHIELD already, but they brought us back for what a lot people thought is an urban myth? Please don't tell me Fury is thinking of recruiting someone who retired from the game years ago."

"So what if he is recruiting the Bat? He's got more experience in this superhero biz than the rest of us combined," Barton countered, "I mean, yeah Cap prolly has more experience, but he was a soldier first, the Bat has been doing what he does by himself according to -"

"Because the Bat is rusty, he's been retired for eight years and decides to come back? That's nothing but a fool inviting death," Natasha cut him off. Her cold, logical personality surfaced, it's part of her training to become the 'Black Widow' she's come to be known as.

"Maybe he has a reason," Barton said in defense, "Even though I never met the guy… he must have been crazy to take on one of the most corrupt cities in the world, but you know what? He managed to succeed, now no one knows why he retired, maybe cuz he did his job, or suffered too many injuries to continue."

"You're forgetting about the murder of DA Harvey Dent?" Natasha reminded him why the Bat is still on the list of America's most wanted.

"He didn't murder the DA," Barton stated with as much confidence as he always had.

"What makes you so sure of that Clint?"

"Cuz it doesn't fit his profile, that and there were eyewitness accounts of him battling the Joker and his loony crew plus the SWAT, now records also state that the others murders the Bat was accused of were pronounced dead during the times Batman was also spotted elsewhere. The only one that wasn't accounted for is Dent, where the Bat was last seen, that's the only thing I couldn't figure out, nothing was filed or reported, just saying that the Batman was responsible," He sighed as he finished his side of the argument, leaning up against his seat he closed his eyes, "Wake me when we get there 'Tasha, gonna take a nap."

Rolling her eyes again at her partner, Natasha just took back to staring out the window, her mind trying to organize what Clint said, whatever happened then, she didn't care that much, it wasn't part of her job unless ordered to do so. But to hear Clint of all people being a tad bit defensive, it piqued her interest, making her looking forward to taking this assignment as she looked out the window once again to see the SHIELD Helicarrier approaching from the distance. She waited a few more minutes to wake up Clint as she began to focus her entire concentration on the incoming mission.

_**To Be Continued…**_

_A/N: Just so you guys know, the hardest ones to write were in this order:_

_Tony/Banner: Mainly cuz I didn't know where to put Banner until I saw Ironman 3 which made it much easier._

_Natasha/Clint: Another hard one cuz it's hard to get Nat and Clint's personality down, so I took my time with these two._

_As for Cap and Thor, it was easy to use Cap's 'man out of time' dilemma and Thor's world making things sound like legends put down on the crossover._

_Anyway, later guys, let me know if there's anything else I might have missed._


End file.
